Tip #23 of why sales people love CRM

Our last tip was about the power of networking, and how having ready access to a CRM system at a conference or trade show can save you much time and pay fast dividends.

Yes, awesome is the power of networking.

But do we network enough in our own backyard?

In a small business, you can holler over at the accountant next to you and ask a billing question. Ok, maybe it’s two desks over. Maybe the accountant is your wife or husband.

But do you really take the opportunity to use your co-worker’s talents to help your efforts?

Sometimes we’re too focused on who we are, what we do and where we sit in the chain of process within our own company.

Not only is CRM an essential tool for documentation and organization, the execution of a top-notch CRM footprint also makes it a team-building tool.

Gone are the imaginary chalk lines around marketing, sales and administration that evolve around separate databases and separate collections of information.

In fact, there’s a growing opportunity for different departments to truly work together in a client’s best interest.

Has a sales team ever had a marketing team member look at their CRM sales process or perhaps information collection?

And what about accounting? If anyone can identify trends and numbers and potential worth looking at, it will be them.

Sometimes a fresh set of eyes can see an obvious opportunity or benefit. Maybe there’s an improvement to a report to be suggested. Maybe there’s another way of grouping clients for particular marketing campaigns. Maybe the exercise would identify a redundant step not so obvious to those deeply involved in a particular process.

All it takes is one fresh and helpful “why don’t you” contribution from a team member from another department to make the exercise worthwhile.

Ask a question. You may be surprised by the quality of answers you get.

When you build a team with collective knowledge that crosses departmental boundaries, the sky is the limit for opportunity.